Development of Machine Readable Tabular Census Data, 1955-1975

Diana Magnuson, University of Minnesota
David Van Riper, Minnesota Population Center
Steven Ruggles, University of Minnesota

This paper explores the creation and dissemination of machine-readable tabular census data in the period 1955-1975. What was the relationship between the development of tabular data, population microdata, and technological change during this period? Who were the advocates for this data form? Who were the producers, both at the Census Bureau and in other organizations, including the Inter-university Consortium for Political Research (ICPR), the National Data Use and Access Laboratories (DUALabs), and the University of Chicago? Drawing on historical evidence from the National Archives, including Census Bureau internal memoranda, conference papers, technical advisory committee minutes, and correspondence, as well as a variety of secondary and primary source materials gathered from public collections, our research aims to uncover the history of the people and social science behind the development and release of machine readable tabular census data.

See paper

 Presented in Session 143. Digitizing Analog History